Computer for video editing and colour grading
DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro and After Effects load a computer in different ways: colour correction and effects use the graphics card, smooth playback of camera footage depends on hardware decoding, and After Effects compositions on RAM. We match the configuration to the formats you work with.
What drives performance
Hardware decoding of footage
Smooth playback of H.264 and HEVC footage, especially 10-bit 4:2:2 from cameras, depends on hardware decoding. It is supported by Quick Sync in Intel Core Ultra processors and by NVIDIA RTX 50 series cards. With RAW and ProRes footage, GPU power and drive speed matter more.
Graphics card in DaVinci Resolve
Resolve performs colour correction, noise reduction and effects on the graphics card. For 4K footage an RTX 5070 Ti with 16 GB is enough; for 6K and 8K, noise reduction and AI-based features an RTX 5080 or RTX 5090 makes a real difference.
RAM and After Effects
After Effects keeps previews in RAM and renders several frames in parallel, so for complex compositions we recommend 64-128 GB. Editing in Premiere Pro or Resolve alone usually needs 32-64 GB.
Drives for footage and cache
Separate NVMe drives work best: a system drive for applications, a working drive for the current project and cache, and a larger one for source footage. Z890 boards with Thunderbolt make it easy to connect fast external drives and storage arrays.
Recommended configurations
Studio Intel works well for 4K editing. We recommend Pro Intel with Thunderbolt for 6K and 8K footage, and Ultra Intel with the RTX 5090 for colour grading, noise reduction and AI features.
All configurations →Intel or AMD for video editing?
With H.264 and HEVC camera footage, Intel has the edge thanks to Quick Sync, which also decodes 10-bit 4:2:2 in hardware. With RAW and ProRes footage the differences are smaller and performance depends mainly on the graphics card.
How much RAM for After Effects?
32 GB is enough for simple compositions, but for 4K work, many layers and rendering several frames in parallel we recommend 64-128 GB.
Which graphics card for DaVinci Resolve?
An RTX 5070 Ti with 16 GB of VRAM is enough for editing and grading 4K footage. For 6K and 8K, heavy noise reduction and AI features we recommend an RTX 5080 or an RTX 5090 with 32 GB.